SB V: 49ers 52 - Texans 35

In the Franchise's Super Bowl V, the 49ers faced off against the Texans. Coming into the game, the scoring firepower of the Texans would have to step-up against a the dominant defense of the 49ers if they wanted to end the 49ers championship winning streak. What was unforeseen, at least from this reporter's POV, was that the Texans SB title hopes would depend on the Texans ability to contain the 49ers offense.

For all but the last 2 mins of the 1st half, the Texans had played the perfect game building a 21-3 lead. They contained TE Davis, pressured the rookie QB Kaepernick and forced him to turn the ball over. However, the 49ers came alive with an offensive explosion that scored 14 unanswered points in the last 2 mins of the half. The Texans momentum seemed to have all but disappeared, while the 49ers had theirs fully fired-up. So much so that the first scoring play of the 3rd quarter came 1min into the game on a 73-yard TD pass to TE Davis. That score was followed by a HB Gore TD run. It seemed the 49ers were running away with it but the Texans bit back with back-to-back TDs by WR Jones and FB Vickers to end the 3rd quarter. At this point the Texans had a 35-31 lead over the 49ers and the championship 4th quarter was underway.

In the 4th, one team took control. It was the 49ers. Scoring 21-unanswered points, all by HB Gore who was named SB MVP. The Texans were ravaged by crucial passes being stripped incomplete from slot WR Jones, and by a fumble by TE Daniels that could not have come at a more detrimental time. Teams will always face adversity, but champions find ways to prevail. The 49ers could have easily been overwhelmed by despair from the 21-3 deficit they faced, but they united as a team and fought together to win their 3rd straight SB. The Texans could not have asked for a better regular season, but the bitter taste of SB defeat is not an easy one to forget. Only a SB win will be enough to truly move on. Expect the Texans to find the right players to not only bring them back to the SB but come out victorious.